This invention relates to a method for preparing metallurgical mounts, such as are used to hold metallurgical specimens while the specimens are being viewed under a microscope, and deals more particularly with such a method and apparatus utilizing a heat curing liquid mounting agent and an agent curing surface defined by a block of polytetrafluoroethylene which is heated throughout the agent pouring and curing steps.
The type of method with which this invention is concerned is one which may be used for preparing a metallurgical mount from a mixture of liquid resin and hardener poured into a mounting mold containing a specimen. At the beginning of the molding operation, an empty mounting mold, usually in the form of a ring having an inner diameter of one-half to two inches, is placed on a generally horizontal surface and a metallurgical specimen is placed on the surface within the mounting mold. Subsequently, a liquid mounting agent consisting of a resin and hardener is poured into the mold. The agent is then cured to a hardened state before being removed from the mold as an easy-to-manage mount. The hardened mount may then be ground, lapped, or otherwise treated to prepare a surface of the contained specimen for viewing under a microscope.
At the present time there are many different known ways of enbedding a metallurgical specimen in a surrounding body of solid material in order to make it more manageable, and a good number of these known procedures include the use of a hardenable, initially liquid, mounting agent which in some cases may be cured at room temperature and in other cases at an elevated temperature. Most of the known methods, however, have one or more disadvantages such as a long curing time, the release of odorous vapors during mixing and/or curing of the agent, the need for precise measurement of the agent components, the use of costly materials and the production of finished mounts having undesirable characteristics such as poor adhesion between the mounting agent and the specimen, lack of transparency in the mounting agent, and poor behavior of the mounting agent under grinding or lapping conditions.
It is a general object of the invention to provide an improved method which avoids the above-mentioned disadvantages and which can be used to produce superior metallurgical mounts at low cost.